The Best Laid Plans
by Corvus corone
Summary: Natsume likes Mikan. Mikan probably likes Natsume. Everyone in the whole school seems to know that ... except Mikan. What happens when Hotaru, Luca, Koko and a few others try to set them up? Confusion. NxM


_A/N: I'm sorry for the delay in putting this up; I did promise it by Christmas, but the Secret Santa event took longer than I expected. So here it is - my first foray in serious NatsuMikan. This is TOTALLY in canon, meaning that they're all 10 or 11 years old and they're all in Alice Academy, etc. _

**The Best-Laid Plans**

_Merry Christmas, Elinorette (aka Pillow-Thief)!_

XXX

Mikan Sakura was confused. Very, very confused - and it was all to do with a certain Natsume Hyuuga. Not only had he been acting strangely towards her, but it seemed that he was actually being nice. At least, as nice as Natsume could get, anyway – which for a normal person really wasn't very nice at all.

For example, earlier that day, Mikan had just realised that she had not done her Science homework again. After wailing miserably in the corridor for a few minutes, Natsume had come along, made the usual comment about the colour of her underwear (they had been exposed during the miserable wailing session) and then had grudgingly offered to help her with the homework. Naturally, Mikan had been quite shocked by this out of character friendliness, and stood there for a whole minute staring blankly at him.

In the end Natsume had said something like, "I guess this idiot doesn't want my help then," and then walked off.

And in the lesson itself, when Hotaru and Luca had abandoned her to work together, Natsume hadn't actually minded that much about having to work with Mikan. Normally, Natsume would have insulted Mikan a few times, left her to make a mess of the practical, and then insulted her a few more times. Something had changed in the last few weeks ... maybe she should talk to Hotaru about it.

XXX

At the moment, however, Hotaru was engaged in an Emergency Meeting. She was in the Elementary Division common room with a few friends, and the subject of their Emergency Meeting was Mikan. Oh, and Natsume.

"Item number 1 - Luca. What steps have you taken so far with Natsume?" said Sumire, holding up a notepad with a sticker saying, "For Emergencies Only". It used to be a list of the different ways in which Natsume and Luca were amazing and to be worshipped, but obviously it had changed now.

"Uh - I did talk to him a bit about being more, um, nice to her ..." mumbled Luca, while his bunny amused itself by climbing his hair.

Sumire and Hotaru both glared at him. Hotaru said, "Luca, I thought you said that you were completely, totally over your crush on her. You did agree to help us in our plans; I have your signature on the contract here."

"I _am_ over her!"

"Huh," said Sumire. She looked at Koko.

"Um ... yeah, he is. Well, at least he thinks he's gotten over Mikan," Koko said. Luca looked a little annoyed and upset that someone would sneak into his head like that.

"Anyway, the point is - has Natsume actually been nice to Mikan? Did what Luca say do anything?" said Sumire, writing down a few notes in the notepad about Luca. Likes Mikan, but probably likes Natsume more. _Should be trustworthy in our plans but should be accompanied by someone else to make sure - Koko?_

"I forced Luca to work with me during Science this morning, which forced Natsume to work with Mikan. He did seem more open towards her than before," replied Hotaru.

Anna and Nonoko looked at each other before Anna said, "And in P.E. Natsume said yes straight away when Mikan asked him to be her partner. Remember before when he used to burn her hair first and then say yes?"

Sumire nodded, wrote down the new facts in the notebook and took a candy out of the box that Koko was holding. "Hotaru, what are the effects on Mikan?"

Hotaru, although slightly irritated that Sumire appeared to be the leader of this meeting, nonetheless replied. "She confided in me that this new, friendly Natsume is freaking her out and that she has no idea whatsoever why he is being so nice to her."

"Which brings us onto Item number 2, which is Suggestions To Mikan. How did that go?"

"I was just going to say that," said Hotaru. She really did find Sumire annoying sometimes. Make that most of the time, actually. It was only because of the dire situation that Mikan was in that she had agreed to this meeting in the first place. "I did suggest to her that the reason was that he might just like her a lot, but I don't think she took the hint. I think we'll need something more ... obvious to penetrate that dumb brain of hers."

"We did tell her that Natsume said that she was pretty ... but she just got confused and said that she couldn't see why that would mean anything," Nonoko said. Anna nodded in agreement.

"Huh. Maybe we do need something more obvious, like what Hotaru just said," said Sumire.

"Do you think we should just tell Mikan that Natsume likes her just like that? I mean, no hinting or anything, but just tell her?" said Koko. "She probably wouldn't ever get it if we didn't do that."

"Or ... we could get Natsume himself to tell her. Otherwise she might not believe us," Sumire said.

Luca accidentally swallowed a sweet whole and said, "What?"

"... which means that we need someone to tell him to do that," Hotaru finished, giving Koko and Luca a particularly evil look.

XXX

"You _cannot_ be serious. Do you two want to get your heads on fire or something?" Natsume said, after Luca and Koko had finished explaining the infallible plan.

"Er ... we're being serious," said Koko. Unfortunately, his permanent grin rather counteracted the seriousness of his statements.

Natsume looked at Luca.

"Um, Koko's right," he said, while the bunny shrank back under Natsume's fearsome glare.

"What makes you guys think I even like her anyway? She's so dumb, and annoying, and -"

Natsume probably would have continued for an hour in this vein if Koko hadn't interrupted with, "If you didn't like her, you wouldn't have tried to be nice to her this week after me and Luca told you to. Also I accidentally read your mind and I heard you thinking about her ... a lot."

Natsume's eyes narrowed in a clear warning - if Koko didn't shut up soon, he really was going to get that spiky hair burnt off, or at the least a fist in his face. Luca quickly said, "Well it's all for the best you know Hotaru and Anna and Nonoko and Sumire are going to talk to Mikan so that she'll definitely say yes when you ask her and you do want to go out with her don't you."

"... eh? There are more people involved in this stupid, idiotic plan? Which isn't even a plan anyway!"

"Yep!" said Koko, looking even happier than usual - if such a thing was possible. Luca sighed.

XXX

Mikan walked out of her dorm room, locked it, and turned around to see Natsume standing there. She yelped in surprise.

"Oi, shut up!" growled Natsume. "I'm not that scary!"

Mikan obediently shut up. Then she said, "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to bring you down to supper because, er, Hotaru asked me to, but now that you're screaming at the sight of me I've changed my mind." In truth, Hotaru hadn't asked him to do anything; he had been trying to get Mikan on her own so that he could attempt to put Koko and Luca's plan into action. Maybe. Perhaps. Probably not.

"Oh ... OK. Shall we go out together then?"

Natsume blinked. "What?"

Mikan was slightly puzzled by Natsume not understanding a perfectly clear question. "I said, shall we go out to the dining hall together then?"

"Oh. Oh right yeah," Natsume said, still looking a bit lost which didn't quite suit his usual scowling countenance. He determined to put off 'The Plan' until much later.

Mikan made a second mental note to talk to Hotaru about Natsume's sudden-onset madness.

XXX

After supper, Anna and Nonoko cornered Mikan in a classroom.

"Um, Mikan-chan, we want to talk to you about something," said Anna.

"OK!" Mikan said, grinning.

"Uh, you know Natsume ..." Nonoko began. When she trailed off, Anna continued, "... we think you two would make a really cute couple!"

Mikan was taken aback. "A couple? Me and that perverted jerk?"

"Well ... he's been really nice to you this week," said Nonoko.

"So he's not really a jerk to you," said Anna.

"But my best friend's Hotaru!" cried Mikan.

"... so?"

"I couldn't abandon her to be Natsume's best friend instead! What about Luca?"

Anna and Nonoko sighed together. "We didn't mean being best friends, Mikan ... we meant, you know, going out?"

"Going out where?"

"On dates! Like girlfriend and boyfriend ... like me and Misaki-sensei one day ..."

"No, you mean me and Misaki-sensei one day," said Anna, glancing sideways at Nonoko.

"No I didn't."

"But ..."

Mikan, still completely oblivious to the idea to 'going out' and 'being a couple', said goodbye nicely and left them to it. She walked back to the dormitory building, thinking about Misaki-sensei's Biology homework.

XXX

Sumire found Mikan in her room doing her two-days-late Science homework.

"Oh, hi Sumire! Could you help me with this?" she said, smiling at her.

"Not now - I need to talk to you about this whole Natsume thing," Sumire said, sitting down on Mikan's bed.

"What thing?"

"You know, the thing where he fancies you and would like to ask you out but hasn't found the courage to do it yet?"

"... no? What kind of a thing is that?"

Sumire rolled her eyes. How thick could Mikan get? "Well, it's true! And I KNOW he's going to ask you out sometime this week, so you'd better be prepared! And you are going to say yes, aren't you?"

"Wait, wait, what did you say about Natsume?"

"I said, everyone knows that he has a major crush on you, and Luca and Koko have persuaded him to finally tell you - I'm just telling you this so that you know what's going to happen. OK, now I have to persuade you to like him back," said Sumire thoughtfully. "Right, well, as the President of the Natsume and Luca Fanclub, I'm telling you that he's really good-looking, he already likes you which is a huge compliment, and his personality is So. Cool."

Mikan was even more confused. "But I already do like Natsume!"

"You do?"

"He's my partner and he's done so much for me before when all that stuff happened with the Anti-Alices and the Principal; of course I'm his friend!"

Sumire groaned. "Not just friends! Oh, why am I even doing this? Oh yeah, because I want to make Natsume happy and provide my Fanclub with gossip. Umm ... OK, if he asks you ANYTHING, just say yes. Please. Just do it because I can't be bothered to explain this to your thick head."

XXX

Natsume, meanwhile, was sitting on his bed thinking about what to do. Should he tell Mikan how he really felt about her? Koko and Luca had been adamant that this was the best course of action, but Natsume wasn't too sure. He knew how Mikan could be, and he had the feeling that she didn't even know what the idea of love meant. She would probably scream to bring down the whole Academy if he even mentioned the word "kissing", and then things would be all awkward and strange between them. In fact, he wasn't too sure about how he felt for Mikan himself.

True, she was loud, and excitable, and much too happy for normal people, and there were about forty-seven-and-a-half other annoying points besides (not that he counted or anything, he reminded himself), but there was also something else there. And no matter how many times he tried to get her out of his head, she just wouldn't get out. Damn her and her annoying, stupidly cute Mikan Sakura ways. Damn her annoyingly cute pigtails and the cheerful way she said "Good morning!" every single morning and the way her eyes sparkled every time he saw her and the way that she STILL kept going with that undying happiness even when he tripped her over and looked at her underwear for the sixty-seventh time (and no, he most certainly did not keep a tallied record that was currently hiding in a secret drawer in a secret desk) and the way that she was just so unforgivably caring and sweet and thick and wonderful and just … nice.

Screw that, he was sure how he felt about her. He just wasn't sure how Mikan felt about him.

XXX

Mikan was just finishing off her English translation when Hotaru walked into her room.

"HOTARU!!" shouted Mikan, running towards her happily. Hotaru didn't usually come to her room to visit her.

Hotaru held her off at arm's length and sat her down on the bed. "Please stay at a safe distance. You've seen Anna, Nonoko and Sumire already, haven't you?"

Mikan frowned, confused. "Yeah ... why?"

"Did you understand anything AT ALL about what they were saying?" The three aforementioned girls had come to Hotaru moaning about how thick Mikan was - well, Anna and Nonoko had quietly explained the small misunderstanding and Sumire had ranted loudly and angrily about it. Not to mention Koko and Luca telling her that Natsume hadn't really decided on meeting up with or telling Mikan just yet, and that they needed to use Plan C. In fact, Plan C was probably being set up right now, now that she thought about it.

"They were going on about Natsume for some reason, and how we should be friends," said Mikan.

"Do you know what 'going out' means?"

"To Central Town?"

Hotaru was very, very tempted to use her Baka Cannon. The only thing stopping her was the fact that Natsume probably wanted to confess his feelings to a conscious Mikan as opposed to one knocked out by her inventions. "No, as in romantically. We suspect that he really, really likes you. Why do you think he was so protective of you during that whole Luna crisis? Not to mention that so-called confession speech in the Principal's office that I heard about."

"Ew, romantically with kissing and things?"

"Something like that. Just don't scream when he asks you out."

"OK ... but why does he want that with me?"

"I don't know why anyone would want that with you. But he's in love with you."

"Really? Oh ... that's really, I dunno, weird. So THAT'S why he's been so weird around me!"

"I suppose so."

"What should I do Hotaru?" said Mikan, wide-eyed.

"Hmm. Well, you have to think about it. How much do you like Natsume?"

And with that, Hotaru walked out of the room. Mikan was left in a daze.

XXX

A little later that night, Mikan received a mysterious note pushed underneath her bedroom door. She opened it up, and stared at it in puzzlement.

_"Hey apple-print,  
Meet me under the cherry trees tonight at 8pm. I have something important to tell you.  
-X-"_

It was probably from Natsume, she thought. Only he would refer to her underwear in such an important letter ... what was this "something important" that he wanted to tell her? Oh! Maybe it was about what Hotaru had just been talking to her about! She'd better meet him!

Unbeknownst to her, on the other side of the door were Koko, who was laughing quietly, and Luca, who looked worried that someone might appear around the corner. His bunny was patrolling the corridor.

"Don't worry, I checked - Natsume's in his room reading his manga," said Koko once he heard Luca's worried thoughts.

"How do you know she has apple-print today?" said Luca.

"Natsume was thinking about it," replied Koko, shrugging.

XXX

Five minutes later, on the other side of the Elementary Dormitory Block, Natsume was reading a similar letter.

_"Dear Natsume,  
I heard from someone that you fancy me. Could you meet me under the cherry trees at 8pm this evening so we can talk about it?  
With love from -X-"_

How suspicious, Natsume thought. He remembered that Koko and Luca had told him that the girls would hint to Mikan about how he felt about her, and so, he thought, this is probably the result. But still, why would Mikan want to organise such a random meeting under a cherry tree of all places? And her handwriting was completely different from that of whoever wrote this note. Not that he knew what her handwriting looked like. He just had ... an impression that it wasn't hers. Obviously. Anyway, someone must be setting him up.

"... must be setting him up," said Koko to Luca, outside Natsume's door.

"Oh no, but is he going to go?"

"Um ... yes, he is, but only to see what will happen. I don't think he's going to actually tell her," Koko said.

Unfortunately, the logic of Koko being able to hear Natsume thinking through a door meant that Natsume could also hear Koko speaking through the same door. He wrenched open the said door and watched impassively as Koko, who had been previously leaning against it, fell over at his feet.

"What are you two trying to do?" Natsume growled, tossing a warning flame from hand to hand.

Koko quickly got up and Luca said, "Uh, um, Plan C?"

"Which is ...?"

"You meet Mikan under the cherry tree because it's really sweet and romantic, and then ask her out," said Koko.

Because Natsume looked as if he was about to explode, or at the least make the corridor explode, Luca's bunny ran as fast as it could down the hall and hid in a dark corner. Luca ran after it. Koko, after looking back at Natsume and then at Luca and the bunny, also ran after it and escaped into the common room.

Natsume decided that he couldn't be bothered to go after them, and slammed his bedroom door moodily. What did those two think they were doing, trying to manipulate him like that? They were supposed to be his friends! They weren't supposed to be sneaking around like this, having secret meetings with Sumire and the geeks of all people - seriously, he never thought that Sumire would ever be seen talking to those Technicals, let alone helping Koko and Luca to plot crazy stuff like this, putting letters underneath doors and trying to set him up with a stupid little girl like Mikan!

_... She's not stupid_, said a small voice in his head.

Shut up! Natsume really was going to explode now.

_OK, fine, she is a little bit stupid. But isn't she so pretty and nice as well as the most wonderful person you've met?_

Oh, this is probably what schizophrenics feel like, thought Natsume, and then wondered how he knew the word "schizophrenic". Probably another one of those stupid horror films that Sumire forced him to watch, he decided. Anyway, that wasn't the point. It was already around about 7:30 P.M., so he had another half-hour to decide what he wanted to do about Plan C.

_Meet her then. Didn't Luca say that the girls were going to convince Mikan beforehand about what to say to this?_

Yeah, but so what? I don't want to be manipulated like this, by Koko and Luca of all people!

_They're just being your friends - so why don't you do them a favour and let their plan work?_

XXX

At 8:18 P.M., Mikan skipped happily out onto the field and headed towards the cherry trees. She wondered vaguely who the mystery person could be if it wasn't Natsume, but her doubts were dispelled when she saw his familiar figure lying down on the grass with a comic book over his face.

"HI!" she said, or rather shouted, into his face.

Natsume jerked back into wakefulness and lifted up his makeshift blindfold. "Oh, I seriously wasn't expecting you at all," he deadpanned.

"Really? But didn't you write a note to me saying that you'd meet me here?"

Natsume decided not to tell her about Plan C or his use of sarcasm. It would just get her confused, and then he'd have to explain, and then she'd get even more confused, and then he'd have to explain AGAIN, etc. "Uh ... yeah, yeah I did."

There was an awkward silence. "What did you want to tell me?"

"Guh." This could be hard. Natsume wasn't exactly the sort of person who liked to confess his deepest and darkest secrets, especially when they were about soft loving feelings to the only girl you've ever loved under a cherry tree in the romantic half-light of the setting sun. For some odd reason, his heart seemed to be beating unusually fast and hard ... Gah, what would be the right words to say this in?

"Hotaru said something about you liking me ..." Mikan helpfully supplied.

Oh great. Stupid meddling little idiots. (Somewhere inside Natsume's head replied with, "You DID know that those girls were going to tell Mikan so stop being so harsh to them," but he ignored it.) How am I meant to do this properly, he thought. He glanced at Mikan. Fortunately, she was being quiet and remarkably un-whiny which was good for his concentration.

"Look, Mikan, we've been through a lot together at the Academy," he said finally. He sat up and brushed some grass out of his dark hair.

"Yep!"

"And ... I think I have a crush on you." _Think!?_, his mind screamed. _You DO have a crush on her, idiot! And what kind of a silly, unromantic line IS that, anyway!?_ "I mean, I'm in love with you," he added, only half-grudgingly.

Mikan, who had been expecting this thanks to the efforts of Hotaru, grinned and said, "I was expecting that! Hotaru told me!"

"Yeah," said Natsume, who had been expecting this response from Mikan as well. "So ... what do you think?"

Mikan was silent for a few seconds as she gathered her thoughts. "I was thinking-" - Natsume resisted the urge to say, "You were THINKING?" - "-about what I felt this evening after Hotaru told me, and I still don't know. I've never felt like this to anyone, so I don't know what this is meant to feel like ... but you're the only person that's ever confused me in this way. How do you know that you're in love with me?" she asked, her brow furrowed in her confusion.

Natsume stared at her. What sort of question was that? But, coming to think of it, really, how DID he know that he loved her? "I think about you all the time," he admitted. "You're the most amazing girl I've met ... I can't bear the thought of you getting hurt." He mentally punched himself for not planning a better confession speech.

"Oh," said Mikan. She looked into his eyes to see how serious he was being, and was momentarily taken aback by the sunset reflected back in vivid red, as well as how _sad _they seemed. Was that normal? It might have been just the darkening light doing weird things, she thought. Or not, as the case may be. "I do care about you a lot; you're my partner! And I guess I do worry about you as well, and think about you, and especially that time you kissed me at the Ball and on the tree ... is that what you mean?"

Natsume didn't bother to answer. He simply pulled her face closer and kissed her full on the lips. He saw Mikan's eyes widen in shock, but she didn't pull back or start screaming, which was probably a good sign. Maybe this really was a better way of confessing one's love ...

XXX

A safe distance away, Hotaru was watching the pair through her new invention, the SuperSpyGlass v.2 (Eagle Edition).

"The plan worked," she called to those assembled around her.

Koko grinned and held up a hand for Luca to high-five, Luca smiled nervously and high-fived it, Sumire and the Fanclub made various sounds and/or poses of triumph and then stared out of the window in the hope of seeing the couple, Anna and Nonoko smiled together with exactly the same timing and Hotaru simply watched the reactions with impassive interest.

"Now who can we set up?" said one of the Fanclub girls to her friends, once the initial clamour had died down.

It might have been just his imagination, but Koko could have sworn that he heard one of the other Fangirls think, _"Maybe the President and the mind-reader kid?"_

END.

_A/N: All the characters are still only about 10 or 11 (aw how cute), so I didn't think that Natsume would be as confident in love matters or in being the playboy he is portrayed as in so many fics ..._


End file.
